Foodie. Feminist. Wanderluster.

21 in Brighton

With hotels dotted along the seafront, holding hands and letting us in to see through their eyes the brilliance that is Brighton, it is easily one of my favourite places. Winding cobbled roads, pubs winking with fairy lights and quirky little shops, Brighton sings heart. Yesterday I celebrated my 21st birthday with my mum, brother and Aaron in the town that is bright even when it was as overcast as it was these last two days. My favourite people + my favourite place (+ a lot of good food) = a very happy 21 year old!

After having Aaron’s homemade panna cotta (I keep him around merely for his homemade quiche and desserts) for breakfast, we turned up in Brighton with eager bellies. We headed straight towards lunch: TAPAS EEK. As soon as we stepped in Casa Don Carlos it felt like we were thrown into Lanzarote. I adore Brighton but this make believe couple of hours was pretty nice- and it allowed us to forget about the freezing cold weather we were to be greeted with once we were finished. We ate paella, calamari, stuffed peppers (voted the best), chorizo, fried aubergine and chilli potatoes (and a lot of complimentary bread). The food was authentic and delicious and the service was ace as well.

We spent the day having a mooch and a ponder and finished the afternoon with a hot chocolate at Choccywockydoodah. It was yum x1000. Since mum and I adored going to the photobooth shop last time, we went back. Only this time, we trusted Aaron (it was so embarrassingly obvious what we should have been doing as well) and we stood in the booth. See photo above. I do, however, adore the photos and it hasn’t stopped making me laugh. As much as no one else wants me to, I plan on framing them. I was sad to see my mum and brother head back off home but was super happy I got to spend my 21st with them.

After seeing the inviting sparkles when we were heading down the Lanes, Aaron and I headed to Olive Grove for dinner and it was amazing. If you’re ever in Brighton, much like Casa Don Carlos, you must go. We had a brilliant server who more than made us feel welcome and I had seabass while Aaron had king prawns on squid ink risotto. We both loved our meals and our waiter taught me how to cut the fish open which made the night even more special.

After this we headed to a bar in the main part of town. Following a glass of bubbles, we adored the liveliness of the pub, customers and the awesome singer who created the soundtrack to our evening. It only made us feel more on holiday (although, once again, England reminded us we were not when we stepped outside afterwards). She sung until the early hours of the morning and we danced, with the other customers, to help her along. With fear of romanticising fate caused by fizz, it felt a bit like a book in that we made some fragile and new friendships with the other bar-goers (with help of the singer, they sung Happy Birthday to me), learnt nobody’s name and we’ll never see any of them again.(Just let me dramatic that up for the sake of a good story.) No. 1 bestseller there.

Day two started with an amazing breakfast at The Brighton Hotel and another day of more pondering, a pub lunch and a couple more photos (where I looked like I’d stepped out of the Footloose set, just without the amazing dancing… However, dancing all the same.)

I had the best birthday ever and it was hard not to feel very, very lucky.